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DS sleeping through the night...

My son, who is 4 months, is sleeping from about 10pm to about 5 or 6 am. I noticed this morning and acouple of other times that i don't have as much milk as i used to when he would wake up once durring the night. He usually only will nurse from one side and be full, and I will pump the other side and send to the sitters with him. This morning he woke up at about 4 am and nursed and fell back asleep. At 5:30ish I woke up and pumped the other side only to be frustrated. I will usually pump about 4-5oz and this morning was lucky to get 1.5 oz. I want to continue to send a bottle of milk that I pumped that morning with him to the sitters, and a part of me is scared that my milk supply will start to decrease even more. I have this fear because by the time my oldest was 4 months my milk had dried up and he was on formula. I do not want this to happen. should I wake up at about 2 to pump, or not worry about it?

Re: DS sleeping through the night...

This same thing has happened to me since my dd has started sleeping more at night. When she was waking up 2-3 times I would wake up with a lot of milk to pump, but now that she only wakes up once, I am only getting a bit. I have come to the conclusion that I will have to pump in the middle of the night to get this to change. Haven't done it yet, because I'm tired and don't need the milk that bad, but I think it would fix the problem.
I bet some other moms have thoughts on this too!
Good luck!

Re: DS sleeping through the night...

I feel my son before we leave the house in the morning. He will eat on average about 12 oz while I am away from him. While at work I will pump about 16 oz. Since we live about 1 mile from the sitter's we just go straight home and I feed him when we get home. When I am with him I will usually nurse on demand. I will usually have enough milk in my fridge from the last half of the week to feed him almost the full 4 days he is at the sitter. I am just concerned about loosing my milk supply as he gets older and moves to more solid foods. I would like to nurse him for 1 year min.

Re: DS sleeping through the night...

If you are concerned about your supply dwindling it certainly wouldn't hurt (and might help) to add more pumping sessions or nursing times to your day/week.

I asked about feeds before/after the sitter because some working moms have been able to deal with less milk by sneaking in one more feed with the baby instead. Those are typically moms who have a longer commute to/from work and sitter's. Since you are so close that shouldn't be an issue.

Would you be able to go to your ds during your lunch break and nurse if necessary?

Hang in there and take things day by day. Often times the introduction of solids, while it shouldn't be a huge amount in the baby's diet, is enough to hold over a baby who's mom is not quite pumping enough after the 6-month mark.

I would suggest that you take things as they come and let us know if you have any troubles.